Depthwell

Third game in three weeks. This one is a mining game where fuel and money is everything you'll care about.

What Is Depthwell?

You're a mining robot drilling through layers of earth. Every block you break and every step you take costs fuel. Collect ores, haul them back to the shop on the surface to sell them, buy upgrades, go deeper.

The catch: you have to physically climb back up through the tunnel you dug. Push too deep on a half-empty tank and you can't bring your loot back. The game is a bit about managing that risk, do you play it safe or gamble on one more vein of gold?

What Makes It Different

• Fog of war — you can't see what's around you until you dig into it. Every run is blind exploration.
• Hard drill gates — your drill literally can't break stone until you upgrade it. You can see the better ores below you, but you can't reach them yet.
• Four depth layers — dirt, stone, hard rock, crystal caverns. Each one harder to mine but more rewarding.
• Prestige — reset everything for a permanent sell bonus. Your mining robot turns gold, pixel by pixel, with each prestige.
• Difficulty modes — choose your grid width and death penalty. Permadeath means it's game over when it's game over.

The Balancing Problem

The hardest part of building Depthwell wasn't the mining or the upgrades. It was making sure the numbers felt right. Too much ore near the surface and there's no reason to go deep. Too little and you can't afford fuel to keep playing. I wrote a simulation script that runs thousands of automated playthroughs to check that every depth layer is reachable and profitable with the right upgrades. I think the balance is enjoyable the way it currently is, but I want to know what you think, so let me know!

Try It

Depthwell is free. Windows and Linux. No install — unzip and play.

If you've played my other games, Cylindrical Tetris or Powdersmith, a rating on any of them helps more than you'd think. It's how itch.io decides whether to show the game to new people.

Come hang out in my Discord, I have cool sneak peeks of what I'm working on as well as sometimes make polls where the community decides what I work on next.

Follow me on Twitter @MrJakobLaichDev for daily progress updates.